Phil Bennett: The Autobiography - Phil Bennett

Скачать книгу

work in the seventies with players at the top level. But beneath that, nothing was being nurtured. There was no continuity, no process, just blind hope.

      The 1988 Triple Crown, far from being the start of a new dawn, was just a temporary flash in a long winter of darkness. In 1999 Wales went on a ten-match winning run under the coaching of Graham Henry. Again, though, it was a blip, a temporary recovery that eventually faded out, to be followed by more grim results and a further decline in our status around the world. Everyone remembers the highs, but they have been fleeting moments over the past 20 years. Every Welshman remembers the horrific defeats, such as the 1998 thrashings by France, England and South Africa, the shameful tour of Australia in 1991 where Wales lost 63–6 and then brawled among themselves at the post-match dinner. But so many games between 1980 and 1987, and then between 1989 and 1998, have not lingered long in my memory. These were unremarkable years filled with unremarkable matches. They are the lost years in more ways than one.

      ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, here to represent Wales as we look forward to that country hosting the 1999 World Cup … Mr Vernon Pugh.’ I remember hearing those words over the tannoy at a Test match in South Africa in the build-up to the 1999 tournament. Looking a little embarrassed, Vernon Pugh, one-time chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union, then chairman of the International Rugby Board until his untimely death in 2003, crept on to the field for the presentation intended to launch the countdown to the finals. I always had a great deal of respect for Vernon. He was a very able administrator, a bright, intelligent and likeable man, and it reflected well on Wales that he had the top job in world rugby. He also played a key role in making Wales the primary host nation for the 1999 World Cup, and it was an enormous loss to the game in Wales, and worldwide, when Vernon died at the age of just 57 in April 2003. The sport lost a statesman and a pioneer and Wales lost its most influential voice. But as he made his way to the centre of the field, I could hear hundreds of South Africans around me asking, ‘Who’s he?’ It was a fair question.

      Vernon was a leading QC who had made his name within Wales by writing a report on the Welsh involvement in an unofficial tour to South Africa in the 1980s. He had then gone on to become WRU chairman after the grass-roots ‘coup’ that had swept former secretary Denis Evans out of office. From that position, he had strode on to become chairman of the IRB, the world game’s governing body. It was Pugh who had declared the sport professional following the 1995 World Cup, bringing to an end the ‘shamateurism’ that had been the prevailing status of the game in so many countries.

      So Vernon was a Bigwig with a capital B. But to the crowds of South Africans that day, for a presentation that was holding up a Test match, he was, understandably, Vernon ‘Who?’ rather than Vernon Pugh. They didn’t know him from Adam.

      Then it struck me: this was the state Welsh rugby now found itself in. We had no world-famous players, so we had to make do with our administrators. This is what we now gave the world – law craft rather than rugby brains. Of course, it would have made far more sense to have had Gareth Edwards represent Wales and I’m sure Vernon would have much preferred it. He needn’t have looked so sheepish. But Welsh rugby had spent 20 years ignoring the seventies generation, so there was not much chance of their rediscovering it in time for the 1999 World Cup. To be fair, Edwards and a lot of other Welsh greats did indeed show their faces at the opening ceremony. But it perhaps sums up the past 25 years in Welsh rugby that a lawyer should have represented Wales that afternoon in South Africa. Legal wrangling and verbal dust-ups have certainly dominated over the rugby out on the pitch.

      Vernon manfully did a difficult job heading up Welsh rugby in the 1990s. There often wasn’t much to be proud of, but he showed great negotiating skills and, unlike some of the men in suits in the game, I always felt he had a good understanding of the sport and the people who played and followed it. It was certainty a loss to Welsh rugby when he decided to step down as WRU chairman.

      That left the way open for Glanmor Griffiths. Glanmor had been treasurer of the Union for a while and seemed to do the job just as you would expect any former bank manager. Nothing too flashy, nothing very imaginative, but he seemed to keep the small clubs happy and balance the books. Suddenly, though, this bloke was both chairman and treasurer of the WRU, and chairman of the Millennium Stadium pic. He clung on to all those areas of influence for a long time, which I always felt was wrong. Until he eventually decided to stand down from the WRU in 2003 he seemed unwilling to delegate, but you cannot give all that power to one person. It creates suspicion and grounds for resentment and mistrust. Glanmor had too many conflicts of interest for along time and I know of many other ex-internationals who felt the same way. Gerald Davies and Gwyn Jones were part of a Working Party that said as much in their report of 2001, but unfortunately not enough of the clubs in Wales backed that conclusion.

      Had Pugh stayed on in Welsh rugby then I think he could have steadied the ship more successfully than has been the case in recent years. He was certainly far more of a forward-thinker than Glanmor. But I think he got fed up with the endless backbiting and low-level politics the game seems to attract in Wales. The committee men on the WRU have not changed. They are the same type of people who were running the game when I was playing 20 years ago. Wales were successful then and some have used that as a defence. If amateur committee men were in control in the 1970s, when Wales were successful, then their argument is that they can help Wales be successful again. But the sport has changed. Professionalism altered everything, and professionals now should run rugby as well as play it.

      Glanmor likes to blow the trumpet for the Millennium Stadium and his own part in ensuring its construction. Hats off to him, for that one. It’s a great arena and the problems that have beset the Wembley project make the construction of such a landmark in the centre of Cardiff something all Welsh people should be proud of. Recently, however, the extent of the debts owed on the stadium and their impact on funding the rest of Welsh rugby have become apparent. I don’t profess to be a businessman, but there are deals tied up with the Millennium Stadium that worry me greatly. For instance, it’s great for Welsh prestige and self-esteem that the FA Cup Finals are being staged in Cardiff. The hotels, restaurants and shops in the city are also delighted, no doubt. But what is Welsh rugby making out of the deal? Not a lot, it seems. The FA was desperate for somewhere to go while Wembley was being rebuilt, but the stadium was handed over for virtually nothing. In fact, Welsh rugby had to offer up many of its existing deals to the FA! Advertising and sponsorship was handed over to the FA, along with the hospitality income and all the merchandising and other top-ups from normal match-day activity. It’s all very well having the richest customers come into your shop, but if they don’t spend anything and you end up paying them to come in off the street, then you’re soon going to go out of business.

      The FA deal sums up a lot of what is wrong with the way the WRU has run its affairs. It was way behind the times when I finished playing and it has stayed there. Friends of mine who run successful businesses have given up trying to deal with the WRU. They are slow to react, complacent, and their marketing of the game is about 100 years out of date. There have been no sponsors for the domestic league for years, the Celtic League hasn’t had one either and companies are trying to disassociate themselves from the national team rather than be linked with it. When the RFU launch their competitions in England it’s done with some razzamatazz and a fanfare. In Wales there is hardly a whimper. Rather than turning people on to rugby, the WRU are constantly bickering with our top clubs and turning people off. They fail to applaud success stories at the top level – such as Newport’s wonderful reawakening of their community’s passion for rugby or Dunvant’s work with young kids – and arrogantly believe that they know best. The truth is that what general committee members know most about is ensuring their own survival. In short, the Union that Glanmor has presided over for the past few years has been a complete and utter shambles, a total disgrace.

      In 2002 there was an opportunity for change within the WRU. A Working Party had been set up, chaired by Sir Tasker Watkins, the Union’s own president. Other respected figures were drafted on and they had spent two years considering the future of rugby in Wales, both on and off the field. Men like Gerald Davies, one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, worked hard at examining what had gone wrong and how they could fix it.

      The report called loudly for root-and-branch reform, but after initially ignoring it Glanmor Griffiths and the rest of the

Скачать книгу